


Another Place

by torasame



Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-16 04:23:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21030212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torasame/pseuds/torasame
Summary: In which Sasuke recalls fear, promises, and death. He stares at name carved into the stone and lights a candle that had been blown out by the breeze.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> blame the chlorine  
day 3: family

Sasuke was annoyed.

Could anyone really blame him? He was still a child at the ripe age of six, whose cares were simple but obtrusive. It was justified though, he thought. All he wanted was some time with his older brother and that was made absolutely impossible by the nuisance he knew as Shisui Uchiha.

To be fair, Sasuke had no true ill will against him- he treated Sasuke well. He offered to watch him train and even brought him tomatoes when he came over. That would have made any child enjoy his presence. But not Sasuke. No, his presence meant he would have to take Itachi away from Sasuke again. It was always the same. Shisui would oversee Sasuke train in compensation for dragging Itachi with him on another mission. He'd show up with tomatoes to make Itachi's usual, "Sorry Sasuke, maybe some other time," less painful.

He looked up to Shisui, he really did but he just wanted time with Itachi. That was all it was then.

Until the warning signs started springing up.

He was seven at the time and he knew something was terribly wrong when Itachi hadn't shown up the day he and Shisui were supposed to arrive from a mission. Sasuke had waited by the door until his mother had carried him off to bed because he passed out by the stairs. They found Itachi the next morning, cooped up in a medical ward.

It was strange, he thought. His brother never came home severely injured. It was usually just a scratch from a branch or a sprained ankle but even those were rare. Itachi had spent the night in the ward and by the looks of it, he wasn't planned to leave any time soon.

Because he was settled at Shisui's bedside, holding on to his hand as though Shisui would die if he let go. It was normal. It seemed normal seeing how close they were and how protective the Uchiha tended to be over their loved ones. It was fine but something clicked in Sasuke's little brain that told him otherwise. Something screamed at him because of the way Itachi's eyelids looked too heavy for him to keep open- how the bags under his eyes were even darker than before. But the last and the loudest sign was how Itachi looked at Shisui, bearing so much emotion in his eyes that Sasuke had never seen before.

And it scared him to death.

It scared him everyday when Itachi withdrew further and further into his own world. It scared him to see the glassed over and dulled looks Itachi would give him as though he couldn't give anything away through his eyes. It scared him because Itachi slowly faded from older brother to shinobi. He would only see Itachi shine through whenever Shisui was around, like there was a space around them he couldn't touch. The sirens rang through his ears that night.  
\----

"I'm sorry Sasuke."

Sasuke kept his back turned to him and an uncomfortable space between him and the older Uchiha. He could trace some sense of remorse in his tone but the humour still seeped through which was enough for him to decide not to forgive Shisui.

"If you were sorry you would stop taking big brother away all the time," he retorted, he made a show of letting out a huff of annoyance as he crossed his arms. He heard Shisui sigh which only fueled his tirade. "You always talk about how you're stronger than him but you aren't! Because he keeps having to save your butt."

"And I hate when brother does that because he gets hurt and he doesn't tell anyone except you and brother is so quiet when he's sad and it makes me sad too," he turned to Shisui, unashamed of the tears shining in his eyes. 

"I'm sorry Sasuke." There was no humour left in his voice. Shisui sighed again. "You're a good kid Sasuke so I want you to promise me something."

Sasuke didn't bother to reply but let a silent acknowledgement pass between them.

"If I ever hurt him, please kill me."

Sasuke felt the air leave his lungs momentarily. The wind whistled past them, allowing the seriousness of it all to settle in. They both turned to the sound of Itachi's faint laughter in the background- mother had allowed him to help her cook dinner. A mutual understanding remained in the space they left between them, the chasm wasn't as awkward or as wide anymore. In the dim rays of the lamplights, he saw Shisui's eyes clearly- they were still glued to the direction of Itachi's laughter. All his defences were down at that moment. There, in plain sight, was the nuisance he knew as Shisui Uchiha, staring after Itachi with the same unfathomable affection Itachi held for him.

"So don't hurt him then," Shisui snapped out of his reverie, eyes still hungover and vulnerable. Shisui took a moment to process what he had said before he managed a smile, reaching over to Sasuke and pulling him in a playful headlock as he ruffled his hair. Sasuke put up a great effort against the older Uchiha.

Itachi had made his way over to where they had been sitting, announcing dinner and pointing out their questionable behaviour with an amused smile on his face. Sasuke took the chance to tackle his brother around his waist, the only part of him he could really reach, and let out something short of a war cry.

"Brotherrr! Shisui is trying to take you away from me!" He cried, he took Itachi's hand and dragged him further into the house. "Don't worry big brother, I'll protect you!"

Itachi shared a look with Shisui whose cheshire grin only widened. "Come on Sasuke, can't we just let Itachi decide?"

"He'd pick me anyway! Isn't that right big brother?"

"I-"

Shisui interjected before Itachi could reply, "Well if it's a chase you want then it's a chase you'll get!" Sasuke managed to drag Itachi and persuade him to jog away from the galumphing Shisui.

Fugaku and Mikoto just spectated while Sasuke fought Shisui off in a makeshift duel. Even Fugaku couldn't contain a chuckle. The night progressed with a light-hearted and warm dinner. Familial banter shared on the table and a small eating contest between Shisui and Sasuke which ended with both their faces planted on the table top and their stomachs sufficiently full.

Shisui was invited to stay the night, made to share a room with Itachi and an over persistent Sasuke.

"These are the only times I can spend with brother." And none of them had the heart to argue with him.

Sasuke was squished in between Itachi and Shisui, he clung to Itachi's torso and cuddled closer for warmth. They passed around polite jabs at one another before the lights went out and the crickets tried to lull them to sleep.

He had began to drift somewhere in between consciousness and slumber when he registered Itachi's still even breathing. He noticed Shisui wasn't exactly asleep either. Itachi had settled on gently running a hand through his hair until Shisui decided to speak.

"I'll do everything I can, Itachi." Sasuke had to strain his ears to pick up every word Shisui had whispered.

"I'll do what I need to on my part, do be careful."

He couldn't see what was going on, but he felt Shisui's weight shift closer to Itachi. Whatever exchange happened only lasted a few seconds. "Good night, Itachi."

"You won't sleep?"

He could almost hear Shisui smile, "I just need to think for a while."

It didn't take long for him to know Itachi had finally fallen asleep, he shuffled closer to his brother who had wrapped an arm around him. He barely heard Shisui murmur through the silence.

"I'll protect you and your family Itachi, no matter what it takes."

It must have the comfortable warmth from Itachi that engulfed him, or the crickets finally getting to him, but all he remembered was falling deeper into sleep and somehow, he wasn't so scared anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there are chapter summaries??? wack  
hi by the time you're reading this i'm probably 15.

Sasuke hadn't understood it then.

He couldn't understand how the tranquility shattered like porcelain and left a gaping hole in the atmosphere. A year had passed and too much had changed too suddenly.

He found Itachi staring blankly at a wall with lifeless eyes with dark rings beneath them. His brother's senses had dulled and cut the air with cold gracefulness that rivalled that of a corpse. It was as though he was present, but the fire that had once been lit behind his eyes had gone out. He just a vessel waltzing around without a soul.

_ Shisui could fix it,  _ Sasuke thought to himself,  _ he could fix it because no one else could. _ He found himself praying for Shisui to just whisk his brother away into their solitude. Praying for Shisui to show up and defend Itachi the way Sasuke wished he could. But the days drew on and Shisui was nowhere in sight.

Everyone seemed so oblivious to Itachi's anguish and Sasuke could do nothing but watch. Everyone else threw their weight around, knocking Itachi back and forth in between their expectations and selfish ambitions. He hadn't noticed it before. He hadn't noticed how tired his older brother looked.

Sasuke would burrow into his brother's arms in the night, in an attempt to provide some sort of warmth to his brother's freezing skin. Itachi would respond methodically, running his hand through his hair as his gaze was fixed on a distant wall.

"It's late Sasuke, you should get some sleep."

He glanced up at Itachi and met his eyes in the darkness, "you should go to sleep too, big brother."

"I will," his eyes were as empty as his words when he said it. Sasuke could do nothing but believe him.

* * *

"Shisui Uchiha's body was found in the Nakano River."

Sasuke looked up in alarm. Itachi's back was to him, and he seemed so calm. He saw the three men in front of them hand a slip of paper to Itachi, the only words he heard were  _ suicide note _ . It came down on him like a bucket of ice water.  _ Shisui was dead. _ He was suffocating in the atmosphere.  _ Shisui was dead. Dead. Shisui was gone. _

He was paralyzed in fear when Itachi confronted their clan members. He watched as the frustration his brother had held in seeped through the cracks of Itachi's demeanor and lashed out at the men who challenged Itachi's statements with great arrogance. The melancholic expression his brother had just moments before melted away in the flames of anger that threatened to consume them all.

"Big brother!" Sasuke cried, Itachi's sharingan met his eyes and faltered. His older brother fell to the ground, bowing his head before the men and their father. Sasuke gazed over at their father's face that had winced in some action of remorse. It was all so unreal.

Itachi shut himself in their room at dinner. Sasuke forces himself to stomach his food while their mother had taken the role of prying his brother out. She came back downstairs alone. 

He pushed the fusama open, walking over to the futon and curled up against his brother. Itachi was holding on to Shisui's note. Sasuke knew there was nothing he could say to relieve the pain.

"Goodnight, Sasuke." Itachi's voice was barely above a whisper.

"Goodnight, big brother."

He felt Itachi pull him closer to his chest and he could do nothing but hold on. Sasuke listened to the faint sound of Itachi's heartbeat. It seemed to get slower as the night progressed. The arms that were wrapped around him were chilled to the bone.

"You should go to sleep, big brother."

Itachi exhaled, "I will, Sasuke."

Sasuke wasn't even afraid anymore, fear was just ignorance to the reality that unfolded before him.

* * *

_ "You must kill your best friend… just as I did." _

Sasuke threw the kunai in his hand to the target. The wood split into two and the weapon clattered to the ground. His brother's voice blocked out the murmurs arouscare. Only a few months had passed since the day Itachi murdered their clan. But those words planted themselves deep in his heart, nurturing the hatred that would bring him one step closer to killing Itachi.

Everything he had known was a lie. Itachi had planned their deaths all in the name of power.  _ He killed mother and father. He killed everyone.  _ The senseless whispers lingered in his ears.  _ He killed Shisui. _

Shisui. The boy who swore to protect Itachi with his life. The boy who swore to protect him as well. In his eyes, the two had been inseparable and he believed that Itachi cared about him. They all did. But he was gone, killed by the person he wanted to protect. Killed in the name of a power that was cursed onto the Uchiha.

Sasuke stared at his empty palms as an epiphany dawned upon him. He would  _ never  _ have a best friend. He would  _ never _ care for anyone. If the Uchiha were cursed with a power that asked for such betrayal he would  _ never  _ try to attain it. He would kill Itachi without it. Sasuke would bear that burden upon himself, isolation was a small price to pray for justice.

He retreated past the yellow caution tape and into what was once the Uchiha compound. He was the  _ only  _ survivor. He was alone. And it would remain that way.

On that day, Sasuke fixed his resolve and determined his destiny.

He wasn't the one who had to be scared anymore.

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't really like it much but i'll try to do better on the next chapters

**Author's Note:**

> :')


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